Rex Allen Rarden died January 30, 2007, while vacationing in Hawaii. He was born January 9, 1937, in Mullinville, KS, at the home of his maternal grandparents, Daniel Boone and Nella Jane Lane Pedigo. His parents were Fred Arthur Rarden and Moleta Edith Pegido Rarden. He was the first and cherished grandson of Boone and Nella. His father was promoted and transferred by Northern Natural Gas Company to McCamey, TX, in the summer of 1953. Rex’s bitterest disappointment was having to play junior varsity sports his junior year at McCamey, due to preceding abuses by Humble Oil and other energy behemoths who had transferred fathers of good athletes to specific West Texas towns to build sports powerhouses. His lifelong distaste for individual injustice suffered for the greater good stemmed from this personal experience. He was the first member of his family to graduate from college. He began his college career at Lon Morris Junior College in Jacksonville, TX, on a basketball scholarship. He transferred to San Angelo Junior College, now Angelo State University, where he lettered in four sports and was a member of the 1957 national champion junior college basketball team. After a stint in the Army, he graduated in 1966 from the University of Texas at Austin with a BBA in International Business. He pledged Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. He came to Northern California on vacation in 1966, shortly after being within range of Charles Whitman in the Infamous University of Texas tower shootings, and never looked back. He has been a resident of San Mateo since 1968. He began work in insurance claims for Farmers Insurance when most claims adjusters had law degrees. He learned quickly from those around him, especially Charles Tatti and Dave Isaac, and delighted in tutoring rookie lawyers on the finer points of the law as he settled claims with them. He especially enjoyed his work with Fremont Reinsurance where he quickly learned to read international treaties. He traveled widely throughout the United States and Canada on insurance audits. He retired in 2000. He enjoyed riding his mountain bike, attending sporting events of his son’s and daughter’s teams, second-guessing coach’s play-calling, lunching in San Francisco with good friends and favorite bartenders, reminiscing with longtime friends about bygone days of athletic prowess, practicing speaking Spanish fluently, vacationing in Hawaii and Lake Tahoe. His family and friends will remember his steeltrap memory (which frequently worked to their disadvantage), his nimble wit, his quirky sense of humor, his agile mind, his gregarious nature, his generosity, his strength (he manually strangled a rabid bobcat which attacked a fellow oil field worker), and his gentle touch.

His parents, his sister Ramona Arlene McMillan, and his nephew Hal McMillan predeceased him. He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Ann; son Marc and wife Heather in San Francisco; daughter Dr. Xandra Rarden in Seattle; sister Jerelyn Kendrick in Midlothian, VA; and eight nieces and nephews in Washington, California, Colorado, Texas, and Virginia. He was a member of Sons in Retirement. At his request there will be no services. Donations may be made in his memory to any local community organization that supports families struggling with the debilitating effects of alcoholism or any organization that supports first generation college goers.

Edward M. Angell March 9, 2007